Women smallholder farmers globally are confronting social, economic and environmental challenges related to water resource management with impacts on access to energy, drinking water and food. Furthermore, it is common for women in rural regions to be subjected to physical, economic and slow violence. In this chapter the authors utilize a water-energy-food (WEF) nexus framework with a gender lens to analyze the experience of women smallholders in the fields and in the home in three rural communities in the Magdalena River Watershed in North Colombia. The WEF nexus framework helps reveal integral connections between these elements to show both the magnitude of the challenges women face as well as how they gain access to these resources to produce food and reproduce lives

Gender-sensitive analysis is critical to understanding women's roles in agrifood systems. However, studies typically portray agrifood systems as mechanistic entities controlled by macro level structuring forces. In this chapter, we apply a new materialist perspective to examine how farmers from the Association of Renewed Intibucan Women affect or are affected by horticultural crops. We analyze the relations that integrate the assemblage of women and horticulture, the affects that draw these relations together, the capacities produced or constrained, and the emerging micropolitics and long-lasting dis/advantages. We find that, by relying on available resources, horticulture crops enhanced AMIR member’s capabilities to fulfill their roles, while strengthening their position in their households and defending their right to occupy feminist spaces, in a way that other economic activities might not have made possible. This examination emphasizes the significance of contextual knowledge to guide the design of development interventions to support women and mitigate inequality.

Coffee and tea are two of the most ubiquitous beverage crops that are grown globally, and together they represent a significant share of the beverage industry overall. Even with the rise of packaged sodas, tea remains the second most popular beverage in the world, just below water. Coffee, though less sipped than tea by volume, is second only to crude oil in terms of its value (International Coffee Organization, 2015). Due to the value of these beverage crops, the production of coffee and tea represents an important point of focus for addressing global inequalities in agriculture for women in smallholder farming. This chapter will explore the recent historical evolution of these industries and efforts by women coffee and tea farmers to address inequalities in their agricultural spheres on the farm, in cooperatives, and through coordinated efforts at multiple levels of the coffee and tea supply chains.

Women smallholder farmers in this region have generally had to seek land in the interstices of large male-owned land holdings. Such smallholdings have been ignored in official statistics and the gender of their ownership rarely considered. European colonialism has strongly influenced farming and Covid 19 and climate change have worsened rural poverty. Recent positive changes for women smallholder farmers have largely come about through new ideas on sustainable development and gender introduced by international agencies. The chapter considers the background and current status of women smallholder farmers in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Special emphasis is given to Barbados which has long had a high proportion of women smallholder farmers. Much of the information provided is based on field research.

This chapter examines the barriers facing women who re smallholder farmers or who produce a niche product on a larger farm. The most critical barrier for women wanting a career in agriculture is a lack of land ownership and the difficulties associated with proving their capacity. Their lack of access is shaped by tradition, by inheritance practices, by the reluctance of institutions such as banks to engage with women and by various structural arrangements that preclude women's entry to agriculture. Drawing on a study of sixteen women recognised as national or state level agricultural leaders, we outline the barriers facing women and the types of policies, strategies and supports needed to facilitate women smallholder farmers.